Haley presses lawmakers on ethics bill

COLUMBIA — Gov. Nikki Haley called on legislators Tuesday to get a bill strengthening the state’s weak ethics laws to her desk, saying elected officials need to prove to voters that they work for them.

“We need to show the people of the world we don’t have issues in South Carolina, that we’re not afraid of ethics reform, and we’re going to pass a strong ethics reform bill this year,” Haley said while surrounded by 14 Republican senators, the attorney general, and the co-chairmen of her ethics study committee, former attorneys general Travis Medlock, a Democrat, and Henry McMaster, a Republican.

With just three weeks to go in the session, time is running out on the reform bill that legislators in both chambers and parties called a top priority before session started.

The House, Senate and independent panel Haley created worked separately in the off-session on their plans.